z929669

+1

Works great in Chrome now! Thx!

Ethatron finally got back to me on Optimizer Textures. My post to him is just previous to that. It looks like OT offers a "subset" of DDSopt functionality. I will still test, but if this is the case, then OT is achieving its value by basically choosing lower mips when downsizing resolution (in addition so some other things like DDSopt), which is confirmed to be less than desirable and basically defeats the purpose of the high res textures in the first place (unless reduction is still higher res than vanilla, but this is iffy). Better to get the mod author's low res 2x versions (as opposed to 4x hi-res). Interesting read, but 'Whoooosh' much of it way over my head, lol. I'm still trying to assess how significant any optimisation is in performance terms, and becoming more doubtful in the process.Thanks for following through on this though zMan. No problem... I should qualify a bit more though: I personally recommend (as if that means anything at all :? ) that anybody trying to maximize performance/aesthetic tradeoff ought to use the "low-res" options whenever available by a mod author ("low res" is almost ALWAYS 2x vanilla resolution, so it is quite good). THEN (at this moment) I recommend processing these textures using predefined compression constraints in DDSopt when applicable (I have yet to formally define "predefined constraints" and "when applicable" but intend to do so in the updated DDSopt guide). Further, DO NOT get the hi-res equivalents and REDUCE their resolution using DDSopt, OT or any other tool. This will undoubtedly improve performance, but it will also largely obviate all the work that went into modding with texture enhancements in the first place. (although it is arguably still a bit better than vanilla). HTH EDIT: If you have a powerful rig and a display adapter with at least 2 Gb of VRAM capacity, all the above apply, BUT you should be using those hi-res, 4x textures

did you check "let application decide"?

Not specific to IE :( I use Chrome and the little button just stays like in IE

Ethatron finally got back to me on Optimizer Textures. My post to him is just previous to that. It looks like OT offers a "subset" of DDSopt functionality. I will still test, but if this is the case, then OT is achieving its value by basically choosing lower mips when downsizing resolution (in addition so some other things like DDSopt), which is confirmed to be less than desirable and basically defeats the purpose of the high res textures in the first place (unless reduction is still higher res than vanilla, but this is iffy). Better to get the mod author's low res 2x versions (as opposed to 4x hi-res).

Get GPU-Z and see what you are getting as your dedicated and dynamic memory loads with the setup you are running. Take a look at the bottom of this post and let us know what you have in one of the stuttering areas you are talking about. I suspect that your dynamic VRAM may be approaching or exceeding around 1900. If that is the case, and you are running the 4x textures (hi-res) versions of the big texture replacers, blacksol's advice (get the 2x low-res versions) is spot on.

Probably a bit of memory fill as well as demand from HDD with a really steep increase as you pile on uGrids from 7 to 9 to 11.

I run uGrids7 standard with my 1 Gb 6950s in Xfire and full step (LITE versions of FPS mods) with no issues at all (just a bit of lag from VRAM load in certain areas). For benchmarking and testing, I always run default STEP recommendations. I think that uGrids7 should be pretty safe for most people with high-end cards. uGrids9 may be fairly stable for a 3 Gb card, but I suspect 11 will almost always cause issues. I can run it for about 15 minutes before CTD, 9 gives me random CTD and 7 gives me no issues as I said.

Very nice! Great complement!

Congrats on the successful setup! You are a brand new WB user following the guide, right? Your feedback on the guide would be appreciated if you could post to that thread when you have a chance. It sounds like you are at or exceeding your VRAM threshold. How much memory in the 470s? Nothing else should be limiting on your system.... I also assume that you did not change the default INIs beyond what TheCompiler recommends? You can reduce iShadowMapResolution=4096 to 2048 in the SkyrimPrefs.ini and see how that helps. The only other things might be your NVIDIA settings and possibly RCRN (although I know little about either). Ask around the other performance threads.

Nice, thanks for adding this. I have seen you use it, and will do the same if there is ever occasion.

OK, good! Monty, I will now always see you in the image of Gene Wilder... you had better post a pick if that is undesirable :happy:

I changed some of the "Thread Dump" forum attributes, so let me know if this fixes the "new posts" issues ... did not foresee this problem

That's exactly the advice I would a) always offer to someone else & b) usually keep to myself... Sorry, didn't mean to sound callous :( I have been divorced as well, and they definitely cost.... Aside from everything, your rig is not all that bad really (IMHO). I think Monty's point about the 2Gb ATI 6850 is a worthy one. That would clearly be the biggest bang for the buck and would bump you significantly up. You could Xfire that one as well (assuming your board supports Xfire). Probably a bit expensive at the moment but should go down a lot since they released the 7000 series.

Because you are a hopeless romantic?

This is sound advice +1

When you right click on the source mod(s) and select Converters>Create, the window that pops up should open up an explorer window that you should use to navigate to the result BAIN archive you created. It doesn't matter where it is located. The Explorer window that opens should point to Bash Installers, but if it does not, just navigate to the directory of interest & WB should remember that choice for the next time. Not sure what you are asking here. BAIN remembers the order that you place new packages into Bash Installers/ ...? Use BOSS, but use it separately outside of WB (just close WB if you want). Once you have your BOSS order presented, you can go into WB>Mods tab and order all of the plugins as they are ordered in BOSS (use the same method of ordering mods as you used for ordering packages... i.e., "Move To" method). Then check all of the plugins. Don't worry about checking the Bashed Patch yet, as we are not using it yet in the WB guide (although it is still useful, it is not a requirement yet). If a package in BAIN ihas a '+', then it is installed. If the box is yellow, then it means that one of the files has been overwritten by a higher package, which is fine. Just to be safe, right click the BAIN header and select 'Anneal All'. Yep, use the same exact techniques and apply to the new mods. There should be no difference, and TheCompiler has instructions. Some of those later mods are a bit tricky, like SkyUI maybe and a couple of others, but just ask someone in the forums or on the nexus thread if you need help (I will not be able to give you mod-specific help, since I have not modded now for about a month, and am behind the curve). Farlo knows the scooby, and his blog usually has that info too. See my previous comment above. "Nothing is ****ed here, Dude" --Walter Sobchak

I have not tested most of that myself, sorry! I will likely tweak it in the future though as far as uGrids goes, note that venkman has plenty of VRAM, system RAM AND uses an SSD ... My guess is that uGrids settings require all three of these be up to snuff, so i expect he will be able to go to 9 stable (I can run 7 without issue as long as my VRAM is kept down below 1.5 Gb, venkman should be able to go up to nearly 3 Gb VRAM)

OK, not sure exactly what Steam Mover does, but as long as your relative Skyrim-Steam directory structure remain the same, this should be fine (Skyrim Mods/ should be beside Skyrim/ and that is all that matters). I will need to address the rest later, as I need to leave work now ;)

You have a powerful rig, so you definitely should be using uGrids=7. You would probably even be able to safely run at 9... be sure to use the formula [uExterior Cell Buffer = (uGrids+1)^2] . Multi thread away is what I say. Still recommend ensuring rock-solid stability with standard settings though --and test like that for several hours of game play with benchmarks, yada yada

OK, mine is same but /NexusClient.exe_Url_2tfxwyispvnfgfg0rl0eq1mulacthwe2 Looks like a wildcard ought to do nicely :P There is a version directory under that as well. I haven't installed the latest version (still have 14), so not sure if you could end up with multiple version directories. Yep, multiple version dirs... I have 4 now, but all contain the same cfg file. EDIT: code block looks correct with the new WYSIWYG editor... must have been something wierd happening in that other thread ...

@Bealdwine I would seriously consider waiting 3+ months and buying one of the now-more-expensive 2Gb cards... by then, the price should be drastically reduced, and this will give you the biggest bang for the buck. As long as you have at least 2Gb system RAM, you should be good to go with your CPU pared with a good 2Gb card. I think SLI would be overkill on your system. MAYBE a slight FPS gain, but that would be too expensive (with a better card combo) for the slight boost. Save your money for a new home-built system ;)

The DNA cfg editor is nice for learning about the INIs, and provides some useful ideas, but I would not recommend it until you have a complete setup that you know runs well on your system using the STEP settings. uGridsToLoad=7 is only for STEP users with display adapters having 1.5 Gb+, as the FPS drop is nothing compared to the VRAM load for faster systems. If you have quad or six core system, multi-thread will likely give you a slight performance boost, but I have not benchmarked on my quad yet.

You is da MAN!